Thanks Ed, that helps and is along the lines of what I thought. I usually eat 2 main meals a day, and breakfast is a granola bar or something light, so I'd probably be most comfortable with a 700 calorie lunch and dinner and mix in 3-4 300-400 calorie snacks (meal bars, complete cookies) per day. I don't think I'll have a problem getting 2,000 calories into my daughter. She doesn't like most "hiking foods", but she does love peanut butter, almonds and other nuts like that, Mountain House granola bags, trail mix, GORP, that kind of stuff. And if nothing else...I doubt she'd turn down anything if hungry enough. With her it would be long weekend hikes until she's conditioned, then in a year (late fall) go out to the Rockies with her for a week if she likes it. If not, I'll do it myself. I have some cousins who have hiked every peak out there and love backpacking, and we'd go with them. That said, I do like the Mountain House meals and am fortunately blessed to plan them for main meals. But even the two-person meals are 700 calories total, so I'll need to supplement with other things.
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If I remember right, the sleeve is 25" wide, so yeah it will fit with an inch on each side. Not the end of the world. This is the exact setup I have for my 8-year old daughter who's starting to hike/backpack with me. Roxy Ann 15 and a Klymit Static V that she loves. I'll get her a different pad for colder weather trips.
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I'm wondering what others use as a calculation for calories to consume per day while backpacking. The "standard" of weight * 25 or 30 for all day activity with a pack seems high to me, but I'm fairly new to backpacking. I'm 250lbs, fairly fit and strong (ahem...dad bod), with a pack base weight of 29lbs. If I were to consume the standard calculation, that's 6,000 calories per day, which is a ton of food. I will also often be going with my 8-year old daughter who has proven well in hikes of a few miles in a little over an hour, and her total pack weight will be 10lbs (12lbs if she needs to carry an extra liter of water). She's 68lbs in weight and is very fit/toned (lots of gymnastics). Assuming we hike roughly 10 miles in a day, or between 4-6 hours of active hiking depending on terrain and temperature, what would you recommend on caloric intake? I'm up for going into a deficit for my own intake to lose 20-30lbs over time, which would be my fit/healthy weight, but I need to ensure my daughter maintains. I'm assuming 1700-2000 calories per day is a good number for her. Any advice is greatly appreciated, thanks!
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